The Church and the media, which scenarios?

In a recent conference in Bonn, 200 representatives of German Catholic media addressed their mission as well as the future scenarios of Church communication. Given the need to be ever more open to the web opportunities and respond to communities’ requests, many scenarios are unfolding in a sector undergoing constant restructuring in terms of content and technology. Christian Klenk, journalist, professor at the Journalism Department of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, shared with Massimo Lavena, for SIR Europe, the challenges awaiting Christian communication in Germany. What is the near future of Catholic media? “Catholic media in Germany are facing two important challenges: first of all, the bond linking the faithful and the Church is growing weaker: there are increasing numbers of Catholics, members of the Church, who rarely – or never – participate in the life of the parish. Second, changes in the media have impacted also Catholic media. Increasingly fewer numbers of young people read newspapers and magazines, only few listen to the radio and watch TV. Conversely, the Internet, that brings together all the media, is gaining mounting relevance. For youths and young adults the web has become the most important media outlet. The Catholic Church in Germany is under many aspects at the beginnings as relates to the new media (which however are no longer that new). There is the need to create new Internet outlets and structures. It’s important for the Church to be present on the web with attractive offers. But it’s equally important to be present on the traditional media with the so-called push-offers. With this term I refer to Church media channels available for those who can access it. For example: the programs of public and private broadcasting stations can reach out to many people, including those who are distant from the Church”. Germany has many diocesan papers: how much room is there for them? “Almost every diocese in Germany has its own weekly that readers can subscribe to. The total circulation of all newspapers amounts to half a million copies. This means 2.3 copies of the magazine per every 100 Catholics. Diocesan newspapers cater to a very small percentage of the faithful: and 55% of readers are over 70! The print run is falling dramatically; at a worse rate compared to “secular” newspapers. My prediction is that in ten years many German dioceses will no longer be publishing their own magazine. Perhaps the dioceses will cooperate in the same newspapers (this happens already in some cases). And even if the magazine itself should continue being issued, it will be read by only a tiny fraction of the faithful. Already today the heads of dioceses and Diocesan newspapers are in favour of the digital editions, many publishers offer the digital version of the diocesan newspaper or report the covered topics also on the Internet, but only small numbers of the current readership reads or purchases digital editions (because of their older age and because they make little or no use of the Internet), while young readers are not interested in the model of journalistic diocesan newspaper and its contents. The same ‘diocesan level’ is an abstract concept for many faithful who are distant from the Church. People feel they belong more to the parish and to the universal Church”. What are the pillars of Catholic information on the web? “On the one side, at the level of local communities (parishes), web news outlets are important, but on the other also parish newsletters are important (communication and news journals printed in the parishes are published four times a year or once a month). Parish newsletters represent the Catholic media that reaches the highest percentage of faithful in Germany. Almost always, parish newsletters are compiled by lay journalists, in most cases through volunteering. The same goes for the websites of parishes that enjoy the contribution of the laity and of members of the parish. It’s important that lay people and volunteers are supported by experts in the dioceses, media experts, for example with ongoing vocational training courses. News offers on the web and parish newsletters contain important information such as deadlines, events, initiatives of the parish, people whom to refer to. As relates to the formation and skills of the volunteer lay people, I consider it a very important aspect. Updates should be offered on a regular basis, especially on the Internet and social networks”.